New: Understanding, pronouncing and using Botanical terminology, a Glossary

Anthurium eminens was first published to science in 1855. Based on information provided by Dutch naturalist Joep Moonen (yupe or jupe), who guides botanists and tourists into the rain forest of French Guiana, northern Brazil, and Suriname, Anthurium eminens is considered a rare species in French Guiana.  Both an epiphyte (ep-a-FIT) and a hemiepiphyte (hem-a-EPA-fit), the species grows on the trunks of trees.  An epiphyte is a plant that grows upon another plant as a result of a seed being deposited on the tree by a monkey, bird or other rain forest inhabitant in their droppings.  A hemiepiphyte is similar but can also climb the tree as a result of a seed that has germinated in the ground.  The species is normally found 3 meters (10 feet) or higher up the host tree and is a member of Anthurium section  Dactylophyllium,  a group with palmately compound leaf blades. 

The spathe of Anthurium eminens is green with a purple tinge but itself is not a "flower".  The spathe is simply a modified leaf.  The spadix at its center vaguely resembles an elongated pine cone.  The spadix is a spike on a thickened fleshy axis which can produce tiny flowers.  Once the female flowers on the spadix have been fertilized by an insect, normally a beetle, they  produce berries which in Anthurium emines are purple to purple-red or sometimes a purplish violet.  When "in fruit", those berries contain the seeds of the aroid.  When the fruit is produced the inflorescence is known to a botanist as an infructesence.